Ringless spinning apparatus

ABSTRACT

In a ringless spinning apparatus of the type comprising a feed roller rotatable about its vertical axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening roller rotatable about its vertical axis and provided with a plurality of saw tooth wires wound circumferentially around the peripheral surface thereof for opening the fibrous materials fed by said feed roller, channel means arranged adjacent the peripheral surface for taking off the opened fibrous materials from the opening roller and transferring them by the action of a jet of air passing therein, and a rotary spinning chamber for collecting and spinning the opened fibrous materials transferred thereinto from the channel means, the latter converges toward the spinning chamber by tapering at least one of the upper and lower walls thereof, while the sectional area of the channel means is progressively reduced toward the spinning chamber at the downstream side of the opening roller.

United States Patent [191 Sakurai et al.

RINGLESS SPINNING APPARATUS Inventors: Waichi Sakurai; Takeshi Igarashi;Osamu Yuasa, all of Fukui, Japan Assignees: Daiwa Boseki KabushikiKaisha,

Osaka; Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jodoshokki Seisakusho, Kariya City,Aichi-ken, both of, Japan Filed: Mar. 22, 1973 Appl. No.: 344,035

Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 27, 1972 Japan 47-30433 Mar. 27,1972 Japan 47-30434 us. Cl. 57/5895 Int. Cl D0lh 1/12 r m rs ch57/58.89-58.95

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1969 Doublebsky et al. 57/5891UX 11/1970 Ripka et a]. 57/5895 6/1971 Chrtek et a1 57/5895 7/1971 Ripkaet al. 57/5895 3,785,138 1/1974 Rajnohaetal ..57/58.95

Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters,Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [5 7] ABSTRACT In a ringless spinningapparatus of the type comprising a feed roller rotatable about itsvertical axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening roller rotatableabout its vertical axis and provided with a plurality-of saw tooth wireswound circumferentially around the peripheral surface thereof foropening the fibrous materials fed by said feed roller, channel meansarranged adjacent the peripheral surface for taking off the openedfibrous materials from the opening roller and transferring them by theaction of a jet of air passing therein, and a rotary spinning chamberfor collecting and spinning the opened fibrous materials transferredthereinto from the channel means, the latter converges toward thespinning chamber by tapering at least one of the upper and lower wallsthereof, while the sectional area of the channel means is progressivelyreduced toward the spinning chamber at the downstream side of theopening roller.

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PAIENJE SEP 1 01am SHEET 30F 6 PAIENIEB E 3.834.148

sum 5 or 6 I Pie/OR ART RINGLESS SPINNING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a ringlessspinning apparatus, and more particularly to an improvement of aringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed roller for feeding asliver, an opening roller having a number of saw tooth wires woundcircumferentially around the peripheral surface thereof, a fibertransfer channel for passing an air flow therein, a spinning chamberhaving a rotating wall and operating under negative pressure, and astationary separator disposed in said spinning chamber.

2. Description of the Prior Art Conventional spinning apparatus of thistype operate in the following manner: a sliver fed by a feedroller isseparated into fibers by an opening roller having a number of saw toothwires on the peripheral surface thereof, and the fibers thus separatedare taken off from the peripheral surface of said opening roller by theaction of an air flow passing in a channel which is in communicationwith a spinning chamber operating under negative pressure, and are fedthrough said channel into said spinning chamber toward the back face ofa stationary separator disposed therein. In the spinning chamber, thefibers are moved along a fiber sliding wall by the effects of thenegative pressure and swirling air flow in the chamber, and collected.The collected fibers are withdrawn in the form of a spun yarn.

Such operation of the conventional apparatus is already known, andtechnical matters concerning the velocity distribution of the air flowand pressure distribution within the aforesaid channel are alsodisclosed, for example, in US. Pat. No. 3,368,340. In most of theringless spinning apparatus of the construction described, the spinningchamber and the opening roller are arranged such that their axes ofrotation intersect at right angles to each other, and are maintained insuch positional relation that the free end face of the opening roller isnot flush with the axis of rotation of the spinning chamber but offsetto either side relative to the rotational axis.

However, the above-described prior art teaches merely a solution to theproblem concerning the velocity-pressure relation of air in thewidthwise direction of the channel, perpendicular to the axis ofrotation of the opening roller, and does not teach the solution ofproblems presented by the conditions of the air in the widthwisedirection of the channel, parallel to the axis of rotation of theopening roller and solutions thereto, at the portion of the channel fromthe point where the periphery of the opening roller projects into thechannel to the outlet end thereof.

In addition, the channel of the prior art apparatus is so shaped thatits width in the direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of theopening roller is progressively reduced toward the outlet end of thechannel but the other width, in the direction parallel to the axis ofrotation of the opening roller, is constant or the walls that aresubstantially parallel to both side faces of the opening roller areparallel to each other and spaced apart by a distance slightly largerthan the width of the opening roller.

Therefore, the outlet of the channel has a rectangular shape elongatedin the radial direction of the spinning chamber, and the negativepressure distribution in the channel is not uniform in the direction ofthe aforesaid other width of the channel so that the fiber distributionin the channel becomes non-uniform.

Further, in the prior art apparatus a part of the peripheral surface ofthe opening roller projects into the channel so that the cross-sectionalarea of the channel SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 8 The present inventorsconducted a lengthy study on the problems presented by ringless spinningapparatus of the construction described, especially for determining thecause of the problem that the strength of the spun yarn obtained fromthe apparatus is lower than that from a ring spinning apparatus, and acountermeasure to such problem. As a result, it was found that theabove-mentioned problem is attributable to the fact that the velocity ofair in the channel is not uniform in the widthwise direction of thechannel, parallel to the axis of rotation of the opening roller and,therefore, the fibers being conveyed are distributed non-uniformly inthe channel in the widthwise direction.

It was also found that the fibers are improperly distributed in theupper or lower portion of the channel, depending upon whether the sawtooth wires are wound on the opening rollers in a counterclockwise orclockwise direction. In the prior art channel more fibers aredistributed in the upper portion of the channels when the wires arewound in a counterclockwise direction, and in the lower portion when thewires are wound in a clockwise direction, with air only beingsubstantially present in the opposite portion of the channel. I

It was also found that the non-uniform negative pressure distribution atthe outlet of the channel, which is caused by the relative position ofthe outlet and the spinning chamber, is also responsible for theaforesaid problem. In the prior art apparatus, there is the tendencythat more fibers gather on the side of the outlet port of the channelcloser to the axis of rotation of the spinning chamber than on the sideremote from the axis, and the fibers are disordered and the orientationthereof is impaired to a higher degree at the portion where the fiberdensity relative to air is smaller than at the other portions.

The primary object of the present invention, there fore, is to provide achannel which obviates the abovedescribed disadvantages of the prior artchannels and is capable of transferring therein in a more rational andorderly manner the fibres to the spinning chamber, which are taken offfrom the opening roller.

The second object of the invention is to provide a channel having animproved outlet opening, which enables the fibers discharged from thechannel into the spinning chamber to be subjected substantiallyuniformly to the action of air swirling in the spinning chamber andthereby to be brought to the inner wall surface of the chamber with aminimum time lag.

In order to achieve the objects set forth above, according to thepresent invention there is provided a ringless spinning apparatuscomprising a feed roller rotatable about its vertical axis for feedingfibrous materials, an opening roller-rotatable about its vertical axisand provided with a plurality of saw tooth wires wound circumferentiallyaround the peripheral surface thereof for opening the fibrous materialsfed by said feed roller, channel means arranged adjacent the peripheralsurface for taking ofithe opened fibrous materials from the openingroller and transferring them by the action of a jet of air passingtherein, and a rotary spinning chamber for collecting and spinning theopened fibrous materials transferred thereinto from the channel means,characterized in that the latter converges toward the spinning chamberby tapering at least one of the upper and lower walls thereof whereinthe sectional area of the channel means is progressively reduced towardthe spinning chamber at the portion on the downstream side of theopening roller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view showing,partially in section, the essential portion of a ringless spinningapparatus according to this invention;

FIGS. 2 4show an embodiment of the ringless spinning'apparatus accordingto the present invention, of which: F 1652 is a perspective view forexplaining an essential portion of the apparatus; FIG. 3 is afragmentary side view of the apparatus as viewed from the inlet side ofthe channel and; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing schematically theshape of a channel; 7

FIG. 5 is a view showing the cross-sectional shapes at selected portionsof the channel sequentially from the inlet to the outlet of the channel;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the air velocity change in the channel;

FIGS. 7a and 7b are plan views respectively showing schematically thepositions and shapes of the channel outlets of a conventional apparatusand the apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a roller housing block; and

FIGS. 9 and 10 are perspective views of different types of a detachableelement by which the channel is formed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The examplary ringless spinningapparatus or open end spinning apparatus according to the presentinvention comprises a feed roller I for feeding a sliver S, an openingroller 3 rotatable about its axis and provided with saw tooth wires 9wound spirally around the peripheral surface thereof, a fiber transferchannel 5 having a part of the peripheral surface of the opening roller3 projecting thereinto, and a rotary spinning chamber 4 having astationary separator 6 disposed therein, the channel 5 extending intothe interior of the spinning chamber 4.

The opening roller 3 and the spinning chamber 4 are arranged such thatthe axis 0 of rotation of the former and the axis P of rotation of thelatter intersect at right angles to each other. Further, the openingroller 3 is in such a position relative to the spinning chamber 4 thatthe free end face 10 thereof is not flush'with the axis P of thespinning chamber and is offset to one side from the axis P.

The feed roller 1, the opening roller 3 and the channel 5 are housed ina block. The transfer channel 5, in which the fibers of the openedsliver are taken off from the peripheral surface of the opening roller 3and transferred to the spinning chamber 4 by the action of air passingtherein, is of such construction that a bottom wall 1 1 thereof isinclined toward the axis P of the spinning chamber 4 (see FIG. 4) andthe transverse crosssectional shape of the channel is axiallyasymmetrical. and the cross-sectional area thereof is progressivelyreduced toward an outlet 12 or toward the spinning chamber The outlet 12of the channel 5 has a square or rounded triangular shape.

As stated previously, the outlet of the prior art channel is rectangularin shape, so that a negative pressure differential or suctiondifferential occurs in the channel between the respective portionscloser to and remote from the axis P of the spinning chamber 4 at theoutlet. Consequently, the mixture ratio of air and fiber becomes higherat the portion of the outlet 12 closer to the axis P of the spinningchamber 4 than at the portion of the same remote from the axis (see FIG.7a).

In the present invention, this undesirable phenomenon is eliminated byforming the outlet 12 of the channel 5 in an axially asymmetrical shape,as shown in FIG. 7b, by making the cross-sectional area of the channelsmaller at the portion remote from the axis Pof the spinning chamber 4than at the portion closer to said axis.

'-The shape of the channel according to the invention is clearlyillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The crosssectional shape of the channel 5is rectangular at the inlet end thereof and also at a section Asuccessive to the inlet end as shown at A in FIG. 5. However, atsuccessive sections B, C the channel 5 has respective elongate invertedtrapezoidal shapes as shown at B, C in FIG. 5. In the improved channelof the invention, the cross-sectional area thereof is reduced quiteremarkably at the portion of the channel 5 remote from the axis P of thespinning chamber over the length of the channel from the position wherethe fibers are doffed from the opening roller 3 to the outlet 12, andthe cross-sectional shape of the channel is changed gradually to arounded triangular shape toward the spinning chamber 4 over the lengthof the channel. The change in the cross-sectional shapes is clearlyshown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The shape of the channel at a section D adjacent the doffing position isindicated at D in FIG. 5. From this point, the cross-sectional area isreduced progressively and more rapidly, and the cross-sectional shape ischanged, progressively and axially asymmetrically, toward the outlet 12as indicated at E, F, G in FIG. 5. The channel 5 has a roundedtriangular cross-sectional shape at the section G or outlet 12, asstated above. Air is sucked through the channel 5 by the rotation of therotary spinning chamber 4 as in the conventional apparatus. The force ofsuction developed in the channel 5 is equalized in the widthwisedirection of said channel, owing to the construction of the channel asdescribed above, and therefore, the mixture ratio of fiber and air inthe channel is made uniform.

The construction of the channel described above is also advantageous inimproving the air velocity characteristic in the longitudinal directionof the channel. Namely, with the proposed construction of the channel,it is possible to avoid the disadvantage of the conventional apparatusthat the velocity of air decreases temporarily at the portionimmediately behind the projectin'g portion of the opening roller 3 wherethe cross sectional area becomes relatively larger than at the portionof the projecting opening roller, and thereby to obtain the desirableeffect that the linearity of the fibers is not impaired (FIG. 6).

' Further, while in the conventional apparatus (see FIG. 7a) the outletof the channel is rectangular in cross-sectional shape and there hasbeen the disadvantage that the fibers emerging from the outlet arerespectively carried by air flows of different velocities V V V V andarrive at the inner wall of the spinning chamber with substantial timelags, in the present invention the outlet 12 of the channel 5 (see FIG.7b) is very small in width so that all fibers emerging from the outletare subjected to the actions of air flows having little velocitydifference and carried over substantially the same distances to reachthe inner wall of the spinning chamber. This is highly advantageous forthe formation of an even spun yarn.

It has been confirmed that with the apparatus of the invention a spunyarn can be obtained which has an improved strength and improvedevenness as compared with that of the spun yarn hithereto obtainable byconventional apparatus.

The advantage of the apparatus of this invention will become moreapparent by progressively reducing the width of the lower wall of thechannel 5 toward the spinning chamber .when the saw tooth wires 9 arewound on the opening roller 3 in a counterclockwise direction, andreducing the width of the upper wall of the same when the saw toothwires 9 are wound in a clockwise direction, so as thereby to reduce thecrosssectional area of the channel progressively toward the spinningchamber 4. In FIG. 2 the opening roller 3 is shown as having the sawtooth wires 9 wound around the peripheral surface thereof in acounterclockwise direction.

In case of the opening roller 3 shown in FIG. 2, more fibrous materialgathers in the upper portion than in the lower portion of the channel 5.However, since the bottom wall 11 of the channel 5 is inclined upwardly,the fibers doffed into the channel move therein uniformly, and the airpasses in the channel also uniformly, so that the fibers are dischargedfrom the outlet 12 toward the back face 7 of the separator 6 and theinner wall 8 of the spinning chamber 4,each being in the linear state.

stood that the channel may alternatively be formed by a detachable blockelement of varying shape, which constitutes a part of said housingblock. In this cases, it is possible to change the degree of projectionof the periphery of the opening roller 3 into the channel, the

shape of the channel, and the opening areas of the inlet and the outletof said channel, by selectively using such detachable block elements ofdifferent shapes in accordance with the type of the desired spun yarn,and attaching the selected block element to the complementary portion ofthe housing block in a manner to form the channel 5 between theconfronting faces 16 of the housing block and the detachable blockelement as shown in FIG. 8. Reference numeral 15 designates therein pinsprovided on the roller housing block for securing the block element inposition.

Examples of such detachable block element are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10,in which reference numeral 14 designates a block element and 17designates pin holes in which the pins 15 on the roller housing blockare to be received when the block element is secured to the housingblock. In using the block elements, the detachable part or element 14 ofthe roller housing block is removed and the selected block element isfixed on the housing block in place of the removed part 14, with thepins 15 inserted into the respective pin holes 17, whereby a fibertransfer channel of the desired shape can be formed between theconfronting faces 16 of the housing block and the detachable blockelement fixed thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A ringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed roller rotatableabout its axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening rollerrotatable about its axis and provided with a plurality of saw-toothwires wound circumferentially around the peripheral surface thereof foropening the fibrous materials fed by said feed roller, channel meansarranged adjacent said peripheral surface for taking off the openedfibrous materials from said opening roller and transferring them by theaction of a jet of air passing therethrough, and a rotary spinningchamber for collecting and spinning the opened fibrous materialstransferred thereinto from said channel means, wherein the latterconverges toward said spinning chamber by a taper in at least one of theupper and lower walls thereof, and wherein the crosssectional area ofsaid channel means is smaller at a portion remote from the axis of saidspinning chamber than ata portion closer to said axis, to thereby form arounded triangular cross-sectional shape at the outlet thereof.

2. A ringless spinning apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the freeend of said opening roller is spaced apart from the axis of rotation ofsaid spinning cham her, and one of the upper and lower walls of saidchannel means, remote from the axis of rotation of the latter, isinclined toward said axis of rotation of the spinning chamber.

3. A ringless spinning apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein a partof the walls of said channel means is formed by a selected one ofdetachable block elements of varying shapes which are selectivelyexchangeably fixed to said channel means to form a fiber transferchannel of predetermined shape.

4. A ringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed roller rotatableabout its vertical axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening rollerrotatable about its vertical axis and provided with a plurality ofsaw-tooth wires wound circumferentially around the peripheral surfacethereof for opening the fibrous materials fed by said feed roller,channel means arranged adjacent said peripheral surface for taking offthe opened fibrous materials from said opening roller and transferringthem by the action of a jet of air passing therein, and a rotaryspinning chamber for collecting and spinning the open fibrous materialstransferred thereinto from said channel means, wherein the latterconverges toward said spinning chamber by a taper in at least one of theupper and lower walls thereof, and the sectional area of said channelmeans is progressively reduced toward said spinning chamber at a portionon the downstream side of said opening roller, and further wherein thelower wall of said channel means is tapered toward said spinning chamberwhile said saw-tooth wires are wound in a counterclockwise direction.

5. A ringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed roller rotatableabout its vertical axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening rollerrotatable about its vertical axis and provided with a plurality ofsaw-tooth wires wound circumferentially around the peripheral surfacethereof for opening the fibrous materials feb by said feed roller,channel means arranged adjacent said peripheral surface for taking offthe opened fibrous materials from said opening roller and transferringthem by the action of a jet of air passing therein, and a rotaryspinning chamber for collecting and spinning the opened fibrousmaterials transferred thereinto from said channel means, wherein thelatter converges toward said spinning chamber by a taper in at least oneof the upper and lower walls thereof, and the sectional area of saidchannel means is progressively reduced toward said spinning chamber at aportion on the downstream side of said opening roller, and furtherwherein the upper wall of said channel means is tapered toward saidspinning chamber while said saw-tooth wires are wound in a clockwisedirection.

1. A ringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed roller rotatableabout its axis for feeding fibrous materials, an opening rollerrotatable about its axis and provided with a plurality of saw-toothwires wound circumferentially around the peripheral surface thereof foropening the fibrous materials fed By said feed roller, channel meansarranged adjacent said peripheral surface for taking off the openedfibrous materials from said opening roller and transferring them by theaction of a jet of air passing therethrough, and a rotary spinningchamber for collecting and spinning the opened fibrous materialstransferred thereinto from said channel means, wherein the latterconverges toward said spinning chamber by a taper in at least one of theupper and lower walls thereof, and wherein the crosssectional area ofsaid channel means is smaller at a portion remote from the axis of saidspinning chamber than at a portion closer to said axis, to thereby forma rounded triangular crosssectional shape at the outlet thereof.
 2. Aringless spinning apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the free endof said opening roller is spaced apart from the axis of rotation of saidspinning chamber, and one of the upper and lower walls of said channelmeans, remote from the axis of rotation of the latter, is inclinedtoward said axis of rotation of the spinning chamber.
 3. A ringlessspinning apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein a part of the walls ofsaid channel means is formed by a selected one of detachable blockelements of varying shapes which are selectively exchangeably fixed tosaid channel means to form a fiber transfer channel of predeterminedshape.
 4. A ringless spinning apparatus comprising a feed rollerrotatable about its vertical axis for feeding fibrous materials, anopening roller rotatable about its vertical axis and provided with aplurality of saw-tooth wires wound circumferentially around theperipheral surface thereof for opening the fibrous materials fed by saidfeed roller, channel means arranged adjacent said peripheral surface fortaking off the opened fibrous materials from said opening roller andtransferring them by the action of a jet of air passing therein, and arotary spinning chamber for collecting and spinning the open fibrousmaterials transferred thereinto from said channel means, wherein thelatter converges toward said spinning chamber by a taper in at least oneof the upper and lower walls thereof, and the sectional area of saidchannel means is progressively reduced toward said spinning chamber at aportion on the downstream side of said opening roller, and furtherwherein the lower wall of said channel means is tapered toward saidspinning chamber while said saw-tooth wires are wound in acounterclockwise direction.
 5. A ringless spinning apparatus comprisinga feed roller rotatable about its vertical axis for feeding fibrousmaterials, an opening roller rotatable about its vertical axis andprovided with a plurality of saw-tooth wires wound circumferentiallyaround the peripheral surface thereof for opening the fibrous materialsfeb by said feed roller, channel means arranged adjacent said peripheralsurface for taking off the opened fibrous materials from said openingroller and transferring them by the action of a jet of air passingtherein, and a rotary spinning chamber for collecting and spinning theopened fibrous materials transferred thereinto from said channel means,wherein the latter converges toward said spinning chamber by a taper inat least one of the upper and lower walls thereof, and the sectionalarea of said channel means is progressively reduced toward said spinningchamber at a portion on the downstream side of said opening roller, andfurther wherein the upper wall of said channel means is tapered towardsaid spinning chamber while said saw-tooth wires are wound in aclockwise direction.